Professional sports

CINCINNATI -- The St. Louis Cardinals rinsed the bad taste of being swept by the Chicago Cubs the best way they could -- sweeping the Cincinnati Reds. Dexter Fowler delivered again, hitting two doubles and a single as St. Louis overcame Scott Schebler's two home runs to beat the Reds 8-5 Thursday night...

CINCINNATI -- Mike Matheny enjoyed the St. Louis Cardinals' best all-around game in a while so much, he wouldn't mind seeing a replay. "I'll go rewatch it," Matheny said after the 9-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday. "Good starting pitching, clean defense, clean bullpen, timely hitting, got momentum early."...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Chiefs thought enough of Kareem Hunt that they traded up to grab the record-setting running back from Toledo late in the third round of April's draft. They evidently didn't think enough of him to select him any earlier...

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis Blues forward Alexander Steen will miss the rest of training camp after suffering a left hand injury in the team's first preseason game. The 33-year-old Steen was hurt against Dallas on Tuesday night and will be re-evaluated in three weeks. He is entering his 10th season with the Blues and coming off a year in which he had 16 goals and 35 assists in 76 regular-season games...

Kelvin Anderson remembers his first days with the Calgary Stampeders, back in the spring of 1996. He remembers walking into an impressive huddle, a rookie from South Bend, Indiana, that played his college football at Southeast Missouri State University and high school football at New Madrid County Central in New Madrid, Mo. He’d spent two or three weeks in 1995 practicing with the Birmingham Barracudas and didn’t like what saw, so he packed his bags, got in his truck and drove away...

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis Blues forward Zach Sanford will undergo surgery and miss 5-6 months of action after dislocating his left shoulder during training camp. Blues general manager Doug Armstrong announced the injury on Tuesday. He also said defenseman Jay Bouwmeester has a left ankle fracture and will be re-evaluated in three weeks...

CINCINNATI -- Dexter Fowler is doing everything he can to get the St. Louis Cardinals into the playoffs Fowler hit a tying homer in the eighth inning and a go-ahead double in the 10th, helping the Cardinals knock off the Cincinnati Reds 8-7 on Tuesday night...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Chris Jones has an uncanny ability to talk just about as quickly as he sheds woebegone offensive linemen, the words spilling out of his mouth in a humorous and sometimes unintelligible manner. Take, for instance, the Chiefs defensive tackle making his first career interception...

CHICAGO -- Wade Davis bent over on the mound with his head resting in his arms. The All-Star closer thought Dexter Fowler's drive was headed for the iconic scoreboard at Wrigley Field, but Leonys Martin caught the ball on the warning track in center field...

CHICAGO -- Addison Russell received a rousing ovation as he stepped to the plate for the first time in six weeks. Then he gave the crowd a reason to cheer even louder. Russell homered in his first at-bat since being activated from the disabled list, Kyle Hendricks pitched effectively into the eighth inning and the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-1 on Saturday to increase their NL Central lead...

PHILADELPHIA -- Andy Reid gave Doug Pederson his first starting job in the NFL and later his first coaching gig, too. Pederson hopes to repay Reid with a loss. The student meets the teacher on Sunday when Pederson leads the Philadelphia Eagles (1-0) against Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs (1-0) at Arrowhead Stadium...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Chiefs racked up 537 yards of offense against the New England Patriots. Center Mitch Morse says that game plan won't matter all that much against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. "I think each week holds its own challenges in regard to completely changing game plans," Morse said. "We're completely flushing the Patriots game and having a whole new mentality to execute the game plan this week."...

ST. LOUIS -- Luke Weaver and Tommy Pham were teammates with Triple-A Memphis to open the 2017 season. Now they're helping the St. Louis Cardinals make a push toward the playoffs. Weaver threw six innings of two-hit ball, Pham drove in two runs and stole two bases, and the Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-2 on Thursday...

ST. LOUIS -- Paul DeJong homered, Yadier Molina drove in three runs and the streaking St. Louis Cardinals outslugged the Cincinnati Reds 13-4 on Tuesday night. The Cardinals have won four straight and six of their last seven to stay two games behind the first-place Chicago Cubs in the NL Central...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kareem Hunt's teammates started boarding the bus for a triumphant homecoming following Kansas City's surprising 42-27 win at New England to open the season. The rookie running back was still answering questions, still wearing his uniform, after his record-setting debut...

ST. LOUIS -- Yadier Molina's teammates could tell their All-Star catcher was not happy. After taking a fastball from Ivan Nova high and tight, Molina hit the next pitch for a three-run homer to help the St. Louis Cardinal beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-0 on Sunday...

SAN DIEGO -- Dexter Fowler struck out against Brad Hand with the bases loaded in the ninth inning, capping the San Diego Padres' 3-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday night. Hand allowed singles by Stephen Piscotty, Randal Grichuk and Carson Kelly to load the bases in the ninth inning before getting Fowler to whiff on a slider in the dirt. Hand got his 16th save...

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- There were big plays all over the field. The Chiefs, not the Patriots, were making them. Alex Smith threw two long touchdown passes and rookie Kareem Hunt, after fumbling on his first NFL carry, scored three times to help Kansas City stun New England 42-27 on Thursday night in the season opener...

SAN DIEGO -- Stephen Piscotty hit a two-run homer, rookie Jack Flaherty threw five innings of one-run ball and the streaking St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Diego Padres 3-1 on Wednesday night. St. Louis has won four straight and six of seven. Piscotty hit his ninth homer in the seventh -- only the Cardinals' third hit to that point -- and St. Louis tacked on an unearned run in the eighth on Harrison Bader's sacrifice fly...

ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Cardinals have acquired right-handed reliever Juan Nicasio from Philadelphia in exchange for minor league infielder Eliezer Alvarez. The 31-year-old Nicasio had joined the Phillies last week on a waiver claim from the Pittsburgh Pirates. He is 3-5 with a 2.79 ERA in a National League-leading 67 games this season. Nicasio has struck out 61 batters in 61.1 innings of work this season, walked 18 and held opponents to a .218 average...

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The New England Patriots are set to kick off another season in the afterglow of a Super Bowl title. Seven months after completing the largest comeback in Super Bowl history, the Patriots will raise the franchise's fifth championship banner prior to tonight's season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs...

SAN DIEGO -- Jose Martinez hit two home runs, rookie Harrison Bader added a career-high three RBIs and Michael Wacha survived a shaky start to last six innings as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Diego Padres 8-4 on Tuesday night. Martinez added a double to go 3-for-3 and finish with three RBIs...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- When the Kansas City Chiefs trimmed their roster to the 53-man limit less than a week before their opener in New England, all but 10 of the players they kept were on the roster last season. There's a very good reason for that. The Chiefs won 12 games and their first AFC West championship since 2010, earning a first-round bye in the playoffs. ...

SAN DIEGO -- Carlos Martinez was having no problem hitting 98 and 99 mph with his fastball in the eighth and ninth innings. It was a message, all right. "I think he was trying to show us he was still OK," manager Mike Matheny said after Martinez threw a three-hitter and struck out 10 to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 2-0 victory Monday over the San Diego Padres...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Nick Hundley made the most of a summer heat wave with one big swing. Hundley hit a game-ending homer in the 10th inning, and the Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 on Saturday despite a stellar pitching performance from Lance Lynn...